Stars fall foul of prankster Thandie

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Trickster: Thandie Newton with Run Fat Boy Run's director David Schwimmer

Simon Pegg at the film's premiere in the West End

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Actress Thandie Newton told tonight how her co-stars had fallen foul of her practical jokes on the set of new film, Run Fat Boy Run.

The actress, dubbed "the queen of practical jokes" by actor-turned-director David Schwimmer, said the main target of her tricks had been comic actor Simon Pegg, who stars alongside her in the film.

Newton revealed how she had filled all Pegg's water bottles with vodka at the media event set up to promote the film.

She also covered the toilet with cellophane, she said.

"He is so extremely easy to do these things to. Today at the press junket, I brought in two litres of vodka and replaced his water with it.

"I got him, what a sap," she said.

Newton was speaking at the world premiere of the film at the Odeon West End in London's Leicester Square. It is the first feature-length film directed by Schwimmer, best known as Ross in hit US sitcom Friends.

In the film, Newton plays Libby, a pregnant woman who is jilted at the altar by Dennis, played by Pegg.

Five years after the aborted wedding, Dennis regrets his decision, especially when he discovers Libby has got together with rich, handsome go-getter, Whit.

In a desperate bid to win her back, he enters a marathon to show he is more than a quitter and that the new man in her life is wrong for her.

The diminutive star, who turned up in an eye-catching black and white dress, said she had put on a stone for the role by not exercising and eating puddings.

"I didn't go crazy. It wasn't required, but they just wanted me to stop exercising. That was easy," she joked.

"And then I turned up having done that and Simon had prosthetic tits and a and I thought: 'That's not fair, I could have done that'."

Pegg, who also stars in Shaun of the Dead, said he had never run a marathon and his way to a woman's heart was by buying her bags and shoes.

"That does it most times. If you get into trouble, buy a nice little bag," he said.

Schwimmer, who has spent most of the past two years living and working in London, said he would love to work with comics Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in the future.

"I would have to find a good script first because they are great," he said.

Also attending the premiere was TV presenter Gail Porter who admitted she had once dressed up as a bee in order to impress a man.

"I did something with a pillowcase and stripy socks.

"I thought I was onto a winner, but it didn't work," she said.

 

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